Forever Yours
by skyhopping
Summary: Yuki Sohma is a new student at Gakuen Alice. While Mikan trys to discover who she truly loves, Natsume struggles to keep his jealousy under control.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: All characters are 15 years old.**

A boy and girl were walking through Central Town toward the ever famous Howalan shop. The boy, who looked annoyed by the girl's constant happiness, had a sour expression on his handsome face. With his raven-black hair, and his crimson orbs, Natsume Hyuuga was Alice Academy's heartthrob. "Oi, Polka-Dots, stop skipping." he said coldly.

"You know I don't like that name, Natsume!" The gorgeous brunette replied back. Mikan Sakura had, despite Natsume's constant teasing when they were younger, grown up to have the perfect figure and face. The only thing that hadn't changed was Mikan's clumsiness and stupidity. And with that final word, Mikan tripped and fell.....

…..straight into someone's arms.

"Are you okay?" the stranger asked. Mikan was too distracted gazing into his hypnotizing eyes to answer. The stranger looked about Mikan's age. He had silky, silver hair, and his dazzling purple eyes were staring.......right back at her. In other words, he was CUTE.

And of course Natsume ruined the moment, "Hey Polka-Dots, how long are you going to flirt with that guy?", he said with his normal, cold and icy voice. But his eyes were blazing an even hotter crimson. Filled with......jealousy???

Slowly, a blush creeped up Mikan's cheeks as she realized that she was still in the boy's arms. "Gomen! Gomen!" she shrieked as she jumped out of his arms.

"No, it's fine! I'm Yuki Sohma. I just transferred here." He said with a confident smile.

"Would you mind showing me around?" Yuki asked sweetly.

Mikan didn't notice Natsume's annoyed and angry glare. Aimed straight at her. Without a second hesitation, she yelled "I would love to!", with a big smile on her face.

Natsume couldn't take it anymore, he grabbed Mikan's wrist tightly and said in an acid tone, with narrow, angry eyes. "She's with me right now."

Mikan felt embarrassed and angry. She stomped her foot angrily on the ground. "It hurts. Let me go, Natsume. You're not the boss of me. And I want to go with Yuki."

Natsume was shocked. _Polka-Dots was ditching __**HIM**__,__for some guy she had just met! _With a disgusted expression, he tossed her arm aside. "Fine, I don't want to catch your stupid germs anyway."

Of course Natsume could see Mikan's hurt expression as he walked away. Natsume had always watched that idiot and taken care of her. He had always thought that he had a special place in her heart. But, he could also see that bastard putting his arm over Mikan. So apparently Mikan had never felt the same way. He looked back one last time, just in time to see the guy whispering something in Mikan's ear, and giving her a small kiss on the cheek. Natsume's eyes burned wild, and for a second he saw red. Yuki Sohma was going to die.

* * *

_That jerk. That inconsiderate JERK! _Mikan thought. She would show him, she was going to have a nice, fun time with Yuki. She turned to Yuki, who had put his arm around her to comfort her, and he whispered, "It's okay.", in her ear. And gave her a small peck on the cheek.

She giggled as she felt herself blush, and reached out to hold his hand. "Now how about that tour?" she asked, feeling better already.

During their whole tour, Yuki and Mikan talked and talked. Mikan loved how everything seemed to fit together perfectly when she talked to him. He never smirked or made fun of anything she said, and he always made sure to be polite. Which was the exact opposite of how it was when she was with Natsume. _Idiot! Don't think of him. You're with Yuki right now! _Mikan thought, shaking her head.

"Hey Mikan, are you okay?" Yuki asked, his soft, velvety voice filled with concern. Mikan almost melted right then and there, even his VOICE was perfect!

"I'm okay, just getting a little distracted." Mikan answered. Slipping her hand into Yuki's, they happily continued the tour.

While everywhere they went, gossip was spreading. Things like....

"I don't believe it!"

"She already has Natsume!! How dare she take the new transfer student!"

"I hate to say it, but they look REALLY good together right?"

"I bet they're going to hook up soon."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So, surprisingly, Yuki Sohma has made his way into the story. Please review! This is my first fanfic so please have mercy! And yeah, I know it's short. But it's supposed to be a kind of introduction.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Class was going to start in 10 minutes. So everybody was chatting in the hallway waiting until their teacher to show up. Well, some people were chatting. Natsume was having a passionate makeout session with his current girlfriend right in front of everybody.

Out of nowhere, Mikan suddenly appeared in the hallway. Panting, she slid down against the wall and landed on her butt. A moment later, Yuki walked into the hallway with a hard expression on his face. He sat down beside Mikan and looked like he was thinking hard.

Obviously something had happened.

Natsume pushed off of his girlfriend, and was about to walk over to Mikan. But stopped when he felt a hard grip on his wrist.

"Hey, I'm your girlfriend. Not that girl. Stay here." the girl commanded.

Natsume glanced toward Mikan. Yuu, Koko, Anna, Ruka, Hotaru, and Nonoko were already questioning Mikan. Usually he wouldn't have worried, but that Yuki had been with her. He needed to find out.

Without even flinching, Natsume tossed her arm aside. And told her with an emotionless tone, "We're breaking up."

The girl's eyes widened. Crying loudly, she ran out of the hallway.

No one was surprised. Natsume had always been a playboy. Really. She should have known that he was never going to actually stay her boyfriend.

Natsume walked over to Mikan. With his hands in his pockets, he glared at Yuki.

"What happened?" Natsume asked, looking at Mikan. But the question seemed to be addressed to Yuki.

"Ne? Oh, n-nothing." Mikan said, looking panicked. She stole a glance at Yuki. Which Natsume noticed.

"Did this bastard to anything to you?" Natsume demanded to know.

Mikan laughed nervously. "No, no. Yuki didn't do anything. We should probably go inside. Okay?"

Natsume decided to let it go. For now.

* * *

"Good morning, class! Today we have a new student. His name is Yuki Sohma." Narumi announced.

Yuki had been standing just a little behind Narumi. He stepped up and stood next to Narumi. With a smile, he introduced himself. "Hello. My name is Yuki Sohma, I transferred here from the main Alice Academy. Nice to meet you."

For the girls in the class, it was love at first sight.

"Okay Yuki," Narumi says, "You can sit next to........Mikan! She can also be your partner."

Out of the corner of his eye, Natsume noticed Mikan sitting a little straighter, and grinning as if she had just won the lottery. Apparently, she had forgotten about what had happened that morning.

Natsume glared hard at Narumi.

"B-B-But, then again, it wouldn't be aproppriate for a girl and boy to be together." Narumi stuttered.

Nobody bothered to tell Narumi that Mikan and Natsume had been paired together years ago. The deadly aura in the air was obviously emmiting from Natsume.

"Why don't you just pair up with Koko? I need to get your schedule from the office, so come with me." And with that, Narumi skipped out of the classroom. Yuki followed him out.

Mikan's enormous smile faded into a frown.

_Oh, he's going to be mad._ Mikan thought. She opened her mouth to protest.

Suddenly, the tips of Mikan's childish pigtails started to catch on fire.

At first, Mikan didn't notice. Then she felt something hot near her neck. She turned her head to see what was wrong......

"Aaaaaaah!!" Mikan screamed, "Hotaru! My hair! Help me!"

Hotaru looked up at Mikan, and answered in a deadpan voice. "I'd help you if you had 300 rabbits, but I highly doubt you have that much money." Then turned back to whatever she was working on.

Mikan fell to the floor on her knees and started bawling. She didn't notice when Yuki and Narumi entered the classroom.

Yuki, with a flick of his hand, formed a stream of floating bubbles from his fingertips. Everyone was amazed, even Mikan stopped crying as she saw the magical bubbles dancing in the air. The bubbles bobbed toward Mikan, and lightly tapped the tips of her pigtails. The flames, and the bubbles, disappeared without a trace.

"Are you alright, Mikan?" Yuki asked, his face troubled.

Tears started streaming down Mikan's cheeks. She was about to run over to Yuki and give him a hug, but Natsume grabbed her collar before she could even move.

"Sit." He hissed in her ear.

Mikan sniffed, and plopped down in the seat next to Natsume. Then she leaped up and ran over to her own seat, looking scared.

Narumi snapped out of whatever daydream he had been having. "Oh! Did I forgot to mention? Yuki has the alice of water manipulation. He can move it around, heat it up, and even freeze it into snow . According to his past instructors, Yuki has trained his alice very well, and is actually quite powerful with his alice. Now, I think school should be starting, so everybody take out your books."

* * *

Later that day, everyone was at lunch. Yuki's table was crowded with boys and girls, each of them wanting to know about the pretty new student.

Mikan was sitting at a table with Ruka, Natsume, Anna, Nonoko, Hotaru, and Koko. With a sigh she started to eat her three-star lunch. Her Stealing Alice had brought her up to a three-star.

"I hope they aren't bothering Yuki." She wondered aloud. "Maybe I should go over there...."

Natsume looked up temporarily from his manga to tell Mikan, "So what if they're bothering him? You're going to stay right here."

Despite Mikan's protests, Natsume had plopped down in the seat next to Mikan. She sat on the edge of her seat the whole time. Refusing to talk to Natsume, or even look at him. She glanced from side to side as if checking to see if anybody had seen Natsume sitting beside her.

Mikan strained her ears to hear what the kids were saying to Yuki.

"What do you eat to be that good-looking?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"Shut up! He's mine!"

Mikan jumped out of her chair and walked quickly over to where Yuki was sitting.

"You guys! Are you bothering him?" Mikan asked, pouting slightly.

Guys started drooling, and girls started glaring.

Using one hand, Yuki grabbed Mikan's waist, and pulled her toward him. He gracefully picked her up, and dropped her in his lap. He wrapped both hands around her waist, and watched her cheeks turn pink.

Jealousy was practically filling the lunchroom. From girls AND guys.

"Why? Were you jealous?" Yuki teased.

"N-No, I just wanted to make sure they weren't b-bothering you." Mikan stuttered. Feeling embarrased, she tried to crawl out of Yuki's lap. But Yuki's grip was too strong.

Yuki glanced sideways at Natsume, who was using the term "if looks could kill" quite literally, and smiled evily. As if taunting Natsume, Yuki nuzzled Mikan's neck, making her blush even harder. Using two long, slender fingers, Yuki lifted Mikan's chin. He leaned down, his lips slowly heading toward Mikan's......

Suddenly, there was a long bang. Everyone jumped, and looked around wildly, trying to find the cause of the noise. Natsume's chair was on the floor beside his desk, and he was walking toward Mikan. Even though, he looked like he didn't care, everyone could feel the temperature in the room getting hotter and hotter.

Natsume grabbed Mikan's wrist. With a hard yank, Mikan flew out of Yuki's lap and was dragged out of the classroom by a _**very angry**_ Natsume.

Natsume didn't stop walking until they reached outside. He flung her arm aside, harshly Natsume turned around and clenched his fists.

"Couldn't you see he was flirting with you? He was about to kiss you!! Why didn't you push him away?" Natsume shouted.

He waited.

He waited for Mikan to start bawling.

Then he realized she was actually yelling back.

"What does it matter to you? So what if he was flirting? You're always flirting with girls! It doesn't matter what I do with him!" Mikan screamed.

Mikan's eyes widened, as if she had just remembered something she shouldn't have forgotten.

"You know what, Natsume? You really don't know what's going on right now. Look, we should stop hanging out, okay?" Mikan said quickly.

Suddenly, the temperature started to rise. Mikan didn't notice, because she unconsciously used her nullification alice.

She smoothed down her skirt and rubbed her sore wrist. Before she knew it, her arms were pinned above her head against the tree.

"What's going on Mikan?" He hissed in her ear.

Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. "Natsume, please stop. I told you, I just don't want to hang out with you anymore. We just can't. You don't know what happened. If anybody se-"

In one quick movement, Natsume interrupted Mikan by crashing his lips roughly onto hers.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I just wanted to say:**

**- I'll try and update once a week, maybe two.**

**- I made some changes to Ch. 1, so that the story would flow better. So please check it out!**

**- Ya, Ya. I know it's OOC for Yuki. But hello? He has an alice doesn't he? So I can change a few things about him.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

At first Mikan didn't realize what was happening. Then it hit her.

_Natsume is _kissing_ me. _Mikan thought. Her eyes widened. _No, no, no. I have to get away!_

**Flashback:**

_Mikan was waiting by Yuki's door. She had been delighted to find out that Yuki was going to be in her homeroom. So she offered to walk with him down to their classroom._

_Slowly the door opened and Yuki appeared. He closed the door behind him and smiled at Mikan._

"_Should we go?" He asked. Holding out his arm, Mikan gladly took it._

"_Yeah!" Mikan giggled. Together they walked down the long corridor. At the end of the corridor was the door that led outside of the dorm building._

_Suddenly, Persona appeared in the hallway. He wore a long, black trench coat with black pants. His hair was ruffled, and it stopped just below his neck. His fingers were adorned with rings, used to stop his powerful alice. But the most strange thing about Persona was his silver mask. It almost covered his eyes completely, except for the two narrow slits for his eyes._

_With a yelp, Mikan stopped walking, narrowly missing almost bumping right into Persona._

"_Miss Sakura, I've come to ask you a favor." Persona said. But the way he said it made it seem that it wouldn't be safe for Mikan not to say yes._

"_O-Okay." Mikan sputtered. Not able to look Persona in the eye, she looked around wildly. While holding on tighter to Yuki._

"_I'm telling you to stay away from Natsume. Find another guy. He'll work." Persona said, pointing at Yuki. "Don't talk to him. Don't look at him. In any way possible, make him absolutely _mad._"_

_Mikan scrunched up her face in confusion._

"_Why? Why would I want to make Natsume mad?" Mikan asked. For some reason, she didn't _want_ to ignore Natsume. She liked talking to Natsume, and -accidentally- making him mad. _

_She brushed it aside as friendly love and paid attention to the problem now.._

"_When Natsume came to Alice Academy, his eyes were wild. Dangerous. As if any second, he would snap. Lately though, he hasn't been doing well in his missions. Even refusing some of them. So the Academy has asked me to turn Natsume back to his old self." Persona explained._

"_B-But, what if I don't want to?" Mikan asked. Still avoiding Persona's harsh glare._

_Any politeness that Persona had been showing disappeared instantly. Reaching out quickly, he harshly grabbed Mikan's hair and pulled hard. She shrieked, and tears started to pour down her cheeks._

_Yuki, who had been quiet until now, quickly grabbed Persona's hand. He yanked it out of Mikan's hair and held her close._

"_Just remember, Sakura. If you don't, there will be consequences. So remember, I'll be watching. And don't you dare tell anyone." Persona warned._

_Yuki was still holding Mikan in his arms. Bending his head down slightly, he whispered in Mikan's ear, "Run. Mikan."_

_Together, Mikan and Yuki ran in the opposite direction of Persona. They headed for the door on the other side of the building. With a burst of final energy, they reached the door to the classroom building._

_Panting heavily, Mikan leaned against the wall. Her face was bright red from running so fast._

"_Hey Yuki?" She panted. "What am I going to do? I don't want to make Natsume mad, but I don't want my friends to get hurt."_

_Yuki seemed to have a magical power to look perfect all the time. He had stopped panting when they had arrived at the door, and already the redness was receding from his face._

_Mikan was another story. He face was bright red, although the redness was slowly going away. She was panting heavily. But somehow Mikan still looked completely adorable._

_Yuki put on a serious expression. With a sigh, he told Mikan, "I think that Natsume might heal. Later, when this is all over tell him that Persona made you do all this. But I'm not sure your friends will survive Persona's attacks. He'll kill them off one by one, Mikan."_

_Mikan gasped. Yuki was right. Natsume would understand later. But her friends. She couldn't stand the idea of losing them all._

_Secretly, Yuki was glad that Mikan would chose her friends over Natsume. He knew it was mean, but it was true that Natsume would forgive Mikan later on. Her friends probably wouldn't even be alive if she decided to chose Natsume._

_Besides, he did like Mikan. It would be great if he could go out with her. Even if it was fake. Who knew? She might get to like him._

_Yuki couldn't help but stifle a laugh. When he realized Mikan was staring though, he turned it into a cough._

_Yeah right. Even he could tell that they were hopelessly in love. That Hyuga kid was well aware of it. Mikan was the only person who didn't realize it._

"_Hey Mikan, we should go inside." Yuki whispered._

_When Mikan looked up, Yuki could tell that she was still a little spooked. She was still panting, but not as hard now._

_Yuki offered a hand, and they walked toward their classroom._

**End of Flashback**

Natsume tensed. He could feel Mikan starting to space out. Did that mean she didn't mind him kissing her?

He let her arms down from where they were pinned above the tree. Natsume placed his hands on her shoulders, and shook her roughly. Urging her to respond, to push him away, to do _something._

Mikan broke out of her temporary flashback. She knew that she had to stop Natsume. Persona had said that he would be watching, didn't he?

Mikan clumsily used one hand to push Natsume's face away. Natsume, more out of surprise then force, broke the kiss, but kept his hands on her shoulders.

"I told you, Natsume. I'm sorry, but we just can't be seen together. Things wi-" Mikan pleaded. She was panting, and her cheeks were pink.

That made Natsume snap. Again Natsume crashed his lips on Mikan. This time though, he made sure she couldn't push him away. Using his right hand, he grabbed both of Mikan's wrists and pinned them to her chest. Which made her unable to move her arms.

Gently, he laid her onto the grass. He kept his arms in the same position.

On the outside, Mikan was refusing to respond to Natsume's forceful kiss. One the inside though, something different was happening.

There was no way for Mikan to explain the way she felt. All the strength from Mikan's body had been zapped away. Her heart was beating unbelievably fast. She actually didn't mind that Natsume was kissing her, even if it hurt. Her wrists had already been bruised from Natsume's harsh grip before, but right now his grip was even tighter. Something made her not want to push him away anymore.

But the thought of her friends being hurt was enough to make Mikan rebel. She turned her head to side, gasping for air. Natsume's hand snaked behind her head, and he forcefully pushed her head in place so that her lips stayed on his.

Before long, Natsume decided he was bored with closed-mouth kisses. Besides, he was gasping for air too. Using his left hand, he yanked hard on one of Mikan's pigtails.

Mikan gasped. Natsume used the opportunity to slip his tongue in her mouth.

Finally, Mikan gave up. She knew that there was no way that she could stop Natsume. She quit trying to break free from Natsume's kiss. She closed her eyes tightly and waited until it was over.

Without warning, Natsume was blasted off Mikan by a powerful jet-stream of water. He laid on the grass, soaked, several feet away from Mikan. For a second, Natsume was too shocked for words. Then he gained back his composure. He stood up abruptly.

"Oi, Sohma. I know you're out there." Natsume yelled.

From behind a tree, Yuki appeared. His eyes were cold and unforgiving. Without a word to Natsume he walked over to Mikan. Yuki carefully lifted her up bridal style and walked away from Natsume.

Carrying her to her room, Yuki realized that Mikan was a sorry sight. She had her eyes shut tight. Her hair was tangled and matted with leaves and dirt. Her face was red, and she was gulping big breaths of air.

"Yuki? How did you find me?" Mikan asked, her voice was quiet. Sad. She kept her eyes shut tight.

"You didn't come back after a while. I got worried. So I went outside, saw Hyuga on top of you, and blasted him with water." Yuki replied in a soothing voice. Mikan opened her eyes slowly. "I had a feeling it was forced. I saw that you were crying."

Mikan's hand shot up to touch her cheek. She giggled softly when she realized that her face was wet with tears.

Mikan and Yuki had arrived at Mikan's door. Mikan reached out her hand to open the door, and they went in. Gently, he laid her on the bed. Then, Mikan started sobbing quietly.

"Yuki? What if Persona saw us?" Mikan sobbed. "What if all my friends get hurt because of me? I don't know what to do!"

"Mikan. Stop crying." Yuki said firmly. Mikan sniffed and wiped at her eyes. Yuki handed her a tissue, and Mikan blew her nose.

"I'll make sure that none of your friends get hurt. Believe me, I'll fix this. Go to sleep, I'll tell Narumi-sensei that you feel sick." Yuki assured her.

With that, Yuki delicately kissed Mikan's forehead and left the room. In a few minutes, Mikan fell into a deep sleep.

Yuki went outside in a search to find Persona. He didn't need to look far. Persona was walking down the outside hallways.

Yuki caught up to him and blurted out, "Persona!"

Persona turned his head slightly to find out who the speaker was.

"You're the one that was hanging out with Sakura" Persona said nonchalantly "Tell her I already know what happened. I did tell her there would be consequences, didn't I?"

"I know. But please let me explain." Yuki looked up at Persona, pleading for permission to continue.

Persona nodded.

"Look, doesn't it work perfectly? Natsume is _extremely_ jealous that I'm the one that carried Mikan away. And you know she didn't give in right? What if I make him believe that it's because she thought she would be cheating on _me_?"

Persona simply walked away from Yuki. Then he called out loudly, "Fine. Nothing will happen to the girl's friends."

Yuki sighed in relief. He sat down on a nearby bench that surrounded a huge fountain.

_Wait..... Now I had to go talk to Natsume. _Yuki thought. He tilted his head back and groaned.

Yuki lifted one of his long slender fingers. With careful concentration, he focused on pulling out water from the fountain. The water gracefully pooled out of the fountain and formed a clear, thick shield around Yuki. When he stood up off the bench, the water shifted and reformed again as his protective shield.

Yuki knew he would need all the protection he could get.

**Author's Note:**

**So whatcha think? Too mushy? Too kissy kissy? Well, I love Natsume and Mikan kissing scenes. But if you don't like it then........ :) **

**So thanks for the reviews. I love it when I get good reviews! I won't be a brat and say I need so and so reviews to continue, but please give me feedback. Whether it's good or bad, I'm a big girl now so I can take it. :D**

**P.S. If you see any grammar or spelling mistakes PLEASE tell me.**


	4. Chapter 4

Natsume couldn't believe it.

_He had kissed Mikan_.

He limped slowly over to a tree. Natsume sat down, his back against the tree. Yuki's surprise attack had drained an unsurprisingly large amount of energy, and he felt too tired to stand.

As he laid there, wet and exhausted, Natsume struggled to catch his breath. But even though his body felt weak, his brain was going through thousands of thoughts at once.

Yes, it was forced. And yes, Mikan obviously didn't like it. But still. His lips felt numb, but at the same time it felt full of static.

Now what would Mikan do? Would she ignore him? Would she ditch Sohma and come to him? Natsume tilted his head back and groaned. He gasped as the shock pains trembled down his whole body.

Thinking of the kiss, Natsume felt stupid for not thinking of the many different consequences. It wasn't like him not to think ahead. But who would be able to think if your one true love was telling you to go away?

Natsume couldn't help thinking about what Mikan had been saying. Why did she not want to see him anymore? What was the reason? Maybe..... because of that Sohma??

He flinched at the last thought. Although Natsume wanted to deny it, he knew that it was a strong possibility.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Natsume slowly lifted his head. With another gasp of pain, he forced his mind to focus. Focus on the fuzzy picture of an unknown person walking toward him.

Then he realized it was Sohma. Natsume jolted upright. His immediate feelings of hate quickly replaced the throbbing pain.

"Just sit down, Hyuuga. You're in no position to be standing. Here, I'll do you a favor." Yuki called from across the clearing. He continued walking, stopping a few feet away from Natsume.

Yuki reached out his hands, and every droplet of water on Natsume retreated back into his hand. Natsume could feel the familiar burning sensation slowly oozing back into his body. Natsume knew that in a matter of minutes, his fire would be completely restored.

Natsume grunted. He hated to admit it, but Sohma was right. But Natsume Hyuuga doesn't obey anyone, much less his rival. He settled it by leaning lightly on a nearby tree.

"What do you want?" He asked, trying to keep his tone bored, his voice expressionless.

"You know, Mikan's really hurt. She didn't like what you did at all." Yuki replied, his voice equally expressionless.

Natsume answered with another grunt.

Yuki gave Natsume a devious smile. Now with a taunting voice, he replied,"Aren't you wondering why she didn't like it?"

Natsume avoided Sohma's harsh glare. His mind burned to know the answer. He didn't bother asking "Why", because he knew that Sohma would tell him the answer anyway. But deep down, Natsume could feel his heart quickly putting together the pieces. Figuring out the answer, even if he didn't want to know.

"It's because," Yuki paused, waiting for the suspense to build. "She's in love with me."

And Natsume lunged.

* * *

"You two should be ashamed!" the teacher barked. "Now apologize to each other!"

Yuki and Natsume turned toward each other. Both of them were bruised, bloody, soaked, and burnt. Natsume had a nasty bruise on his cheek, and his clothes were soaked. Yuki's shirt was burnt to rags, and blood was dripping out of the corner of his swollen lips.

"Sorry." They both mumbled. But it was very clear that none of them meant it.

Satisfied, the teacher let them go. She ordered both of the boys to change clothes and report to the nurse.

* * *

The next morning in class, Narumi couldn't believe what he saw. Yuki and Natsume both had bandages on their faces, and the tension and the quiet in the usually noisy room was completely noticeable.

"What in the world happened?" He cried out in his high-pitched, gay voice.

Everyone sweat dropped.

Mikan stared out the window. Last night, Yuki had knocked on her door. He explained what had happened that afternoon.

Mikan had bawled when she heard Persona's condition. But Yuki had reminded her that none of her friends were in the least way hurt. Mikan knew that Yuki was right, but she didn't know how long she could take not talking to Natsume.

"Nothing." Natsume answered. He glared at Yuki, daring him to disagree.

He didn't.

With the slightest of nods, Yuki replied with a "Hnn"

"Ahhhh. Okay." Narumi said thoughtfully. He didn't press on it. "As you know, we have our school festival soon. It's in three months. And we need a class theme."

Instantly, the class exploded with cheers, ideas, and screams.

Natsume leaned back, placed his manga open-book on his face, and crossed his arms. He knew that there was no way he was participating.

"Also, the Alice Academy council has told us that everyone, and that means _everyone_, must take part." Narumi exclaimed, glancing at Natsume.

Natsume stiffened.

"Okay! Let's put together our ideas!" Narumi called out.

In minutes, the many desks and chairs had been pushed together into a makeshift desk. Anna took notes, because she had the neatest handwriting. Hotaru did the business calculations, because she was the obvious person for the job. And Mikan was the spokesperson, because _everybody_ loved Mikan.

"We should do something that compliments the people in our class." said Nonoko. "I mean, Ruka, Natsume, and Yuki are insanely hot - blush – and we have a lot of pretty people don't we?"

"Like a cosplaying host club!!!" Mikan shouted.

For the second time that day, the class exploded with noise. Anna took furious notes, Hotaru calculated the costs of costumes, and Mikan smiled as she and everybody talked about the details.

After about of an hour of brainstorming, everything was decided. Mikan was given the honors of reading the plans out loud.

"Koko, Ruka, Natsume, and Yuki will be our hosts. And our hostesses will be Anna, Nonoko, Sumire, and...." Mikan stopped. Her eyes widened as she saw the last name on the list.

"Me??" she squealed.

"Your gorgeous Mikan, and so friendly. You'll make us tons of money!" the class assured her.

Mikan blushed, and mumbled, "OK, thank you."

She cleared her throat, and read the rest of the plans. "Rina, Beni, Akira, and Tsuki will sew the costumes with their special Alices. Yuu and Hotaru will take the money and decide which customers match up with which hosts/hostesses. Everyone else will be the waiters and helpers."

With a pump of her fist, she cheered. "Let's make this the best it can be!"

* * *

Over the next three months, the class was buzzing with excitement. The special hosts and hostesses took classes on nice manners and proper grace. Which of course Natsume skipped. Yuki and Ruka were assured that there was no need for them to attend, because they were already absolutely graceful and polite.

(While in the background you could hear a glass breaking, and Mikan crying out, "Oh no! I dropped it! Sorry!")

The costume team took measurements. After that, they were very secretive. Not showing the costumes to anybody. They assured everyone that the clothes were gorgeous, and were fitted specially to everyone.

Yuu and Hotaru took care of everything else. They took a "voluntary" donation of 1,000 rabbits from everybody. Anyone who didn't pay was chased after by Hotaru's special debt collecting robot gorilla. With the money, the best hotel was rented, and the best food and drinks were purchased. The special cloth needed to make the costumes was also purchased from the fund.

Before they knew it, the festival was here.


	5. Chapter 5

Finally, the annual Gakuen Alice Festival had arrived. Thanks to Hotaru's "donation" fund, the famous Cherry Blossom Cafe was rented for a whole week. Mikan, of course, was thrilled with Hotaru's choice. Hotaru responded by hitting her on the head and claiming it was a coincidence.

Located in the center of town, the Cherry Blossom Cafe was big, eye-catching, and perfect for Mikan's class theme. There was a big area for eating and dining, a big area for dancing, and an even bigger area for the specials.

The area for the specials (Koko, Ruka, Natsume,Yuki, Anna, Nonoko, Sumire, and Mikan) had eight individual love seats randomly placed around the area. Customers were also welcome to take pictures, for a five dollar fee of course. Everything about the specials were expensive. In addition to pictures, sessions, and dates, everything cost nearly three times as much as buying regular things.

Anna, Nonoko, Sumire, and Mikan wore adorably cute maid costumes. Nonoko had chosen a costume with a delicate shade of blue, and Anna pulled off an amazing red dress. Of course, Sumire wore a customary black costume, except with her own "twist". In other words, she ordered the costume team to make it tighter and shorter. Mikan wore a short pink maid costume. She had protested to Hotaru, something about "Natsume" and "pervert", but Hotaru promised Mikan three boxes off Howalon every day for a week.

Unlike the girls, Koko, Ruka, Natsume, and Yuki all wore relatively the same thing. Except for Natsume, who threw away his jacket and preferred to intentionally mess up his suit.

The female waiters all wore embarrassingly short french-maid costumes, complete with cat ears and tails. Admittedly, many protested. Nevertheless, Hotaru simply let them take a look at their paycheck for the day. And that was the end of that.

The male waiters looked gorgeous wearing they're specially fitted black tuxedos. No one could deny that the costume and makeup team had done an amazing job.

After an hour of prepping and rehearsing, the Cherry Blossom Cafe was officially opened.

After 30 minutes of their grand opening, the Cafe was packed. Customers took orders from the servers, and the live entertainment was great. True, there were many cases of the male portion "accidentally" dropping their napkins. Then asking a "coincidentally" passing-by waitress to pick it up. But other than that everything went smoothly.

A few awkward couples danced on the dance floor. Occasionally a staff member was sent over to convince more people to dance. Additionally they did dance with a few loners.

Over by the special area, things weren't going by so nicely. Tension oozed in the air, mostly from a certain red-eyed hottie. The only person oblivious to it was Mikan and Keru, the couple for the next 20 minutes. Natsume was glaring at Mikan for being overly friendly to Keru, and glaring at Keru for shamelessly flirting back.

Mostly it stung because Natsume knew that Mikan was friendly with _everybody. _Boy and girl alike. She had some kind of magic spell that made anybody fall under her charm. Obviously some people called Mikan a flirt, but Natsume knew that it was simply her fierce determination to become friends with anybody she met.

Just as Natsume was considering to send a wandering fireball toward Keru, he felt a tug on his shoulder. Looking down, he noticed _his _date pulling on his shirt. She had some kind of pout on her lips, which she probbaly thought was "cute". _Crap_, he thought, _I'm never going to win the bet like this_.

**Flashback**

_Five minutes before opening, Yuki pulled Natsume aside._

"_I'd like to propose a bet." Yuki said nonchalantly._

_Natsume raised an eyebrow. _

"_Go on." he said._

"_Me and you. See who can get the most requests in a week."_

_Natsume nodded._

"_What's the prize?"_

"_Mikan's date to the Festival Dance."_

_The two boys shook on it, they're eyes blazing with hatred._

**End of Flashback**

Out of the corner of his eye, Natsume noticed Yuki. He was chatting it up with his date. Natsume scoffed. There were much easier ways to get a girl. And plus, the insistent tugging was getting annoying. Without taking his eyes off of Mikan, Natsume leaned down and kissed his date.

The other special couples awkwardly avoided their gazes from the two playing tonsil hockey. Mikan looked up from talking to her date and noticed Natsume. A slight frown played on her lips. Of course Natsume noticed this, and decided to take it one step further. Leaning down to his date's ear, he whispered, _Let's take this somewhere more private._

His date blushed furiously, at the same time nodding eagerly. Natsume lifted her up bridal style from the couch and took her toward an empty room. Deliberately, he walked right by Mikan's section.

Mikan's jaw dropped. Her hand reached out, itching to grab Natsume from this girl's grasp. But a glance at Yuki, and she saw the slight shake of his head. _No._ Gingerly, Mikan placed her hand back into her lap. She turned back to her date, laughing and smiling like normal. But inside, Mikan could feel a tiny part of her heart cracking.

The Cafe had just closed, and the cleanup crew was bustling around the whole area. A few people lingered around the entrance, hoping to get a final picture with one of their favorite specials. Everybody else were very energetic. The air was filled with laughter, congrats, and the clinking of drinks.

As for Mikan, she was exhausted. Her head hurt from the music, and her face hurt from smiling. Taking small steps, she approached her special couch. Somehow, she managed to trip and fall onto the couch. She was awarded with a hearty applause of laughter, and a huge pang in her head. Her cheeks burned from the embarrassment, and she carefully adjusted her body to lay comfortably on the couch.

"Neh, Yuki! Can you come here?" She called out weakly. Yuki broke off slightly from the people he was talking to, and motioned to Mikan to wait a second. He excused himself politely, and gracefully walked toward Mikan.

Watching Yuki walk, it reminded her of her clumsiness. Her cheeks burned as she remembered once again falling onto the couch. But Yuki's graceful-ness also reminded her of Natsume. It was so different from Natsume's swagger. The way he could scream to the world, "bad boy", just by moving his legs and hips just so.

Mikan shook her head, and earned another bang-bang. Yuki had gotten to the couch, and stood over her with a worried expression. He bent over and placed a hand onto her forehead. He winced and drew back, but shook his hand and blew on it to show he was being sarcastic. Leaning to a person next to him, he asked for a cold towel or compress to give to Mikan. Finally, he spoke directly to Mikan.

"Persona talked to me. He wants you to meet him. Tonight." He checked the expensive-looking gold watch on his wrist. "In one hour. But, you look sick. Should I carry you to him? I know it would be easier to just skip the meeting, but he sounded pissed_._"

Mikan closed her eyes and groaned. She sank her head deeper into the soft cushions and croaked, "Five minutes."

Yuki ran a hand through his neat hair, this was crap. How in the world could Mikan go to Persona? Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a certain red-eyed shadow. Smirking, Yuki held up seven fingers, mouthed "seventy", and with the other hand, help up nine fingers, signaling seventy-four. The raven boy just smirked. He simply raised one finger, his middle, and strutted out of the cafe.

Yuki was only mildly insulted. He had other things to worry about. The nice stranger had gotten the compress, and Yuki gently cushioned it onto Mikan's forehead. Mikan groaned once more, and gave Yuki a thumbs-up.

Mikan grabbed the hair-tie on her wrist with her teeth, and pulled her hair into a messy bun. She had managed to change into warm clothes, grab an even _warmer_ jacket, and race to the designated meeting spot in under an hour.

If at that exact moment Mikan hadn't turned around, she wouldn't have noticed Persona standing right behind her. Holding a gun. Even defeating Persona's plan of the element of surprise still gave no advantage to Mikan. In a short second Mikan was tied up against a tree with obviously Alice-made rope.

Persona sat down crossed-legs in front of Mikan. Smirking slightly, he leaned in to Mikan's face and hissed, "Now you better listen to what I am about to say."

Mikan was panting heavily. Yet she still had the energy to spit in Persona's face and snarl, "You're a bastard. What are you gonna do? Rape me? God, trying to sneak up on-"

With a flick of Persona's wrist, something sharp slashed Mikan's cheek. She knew that the warm liquid trickling down her face was blood.

Persona raised his left hand. Even through the darkness Mikan could see the object in his hand. A silver knife. It was long, and razor sharp.

"That, now that was _nothing. _If you do something like that again, I will personally make sure your pretty face is slashed to ribbons." Persona was shaking, and his threatening eyes frightened Mikan down to the core.

Mikan muttered an apology. Persona used his sleeve to wipe the gunk from his face, and took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Now," he said, gritting his teeth and speaking in a low voice, "the Academy is asking, no _ordering_, you to do one more thing about Natsume."

Mikan's eyes widened. Her lips moving to form a silent _no._ Another flick of Persona's wrist. But this time on her stomach. The pain took her breath away. Mikan winced, and bit her tongue to keep from talking again.

"I'll admit, you've done good. The Academy has been raking in the information and the money ever since you've completely rejected the Black Cat. Now there's one final thing. It's quite simple actually." Persona smirked, and Mikan braced herself.

"Break his heart. Into tiny millions of little pieces that won't ever be able to be put back together."

Now Mikan was crying softly. She begged for something else. Anything.

"Remember, the stakes are higher. If you don't do this, _everything_ will be wiped out. Tortured to death. Your friends, your grandpa, and anyone else your weak little heart has a place for."

He snarled and spat in her face.

"Two days. Tops. And each day you're late," Persona made a slicing motion across his throat. "you say goodbye."


	6. Chapter 6

It hurt. Hurt incredibly. Mikan's stomach and face, both bleeding horrendously. But most of all, her heart hurt. While one hand clutched her stomach, the other clawed at her chest, desperately trying to take out this _pain_.

How was it possible? To feel so much _hurt_, both emotionally and physically? All Mikan wanted to do was curl up into a ball and disappear, along with all the responsibilities were being crammed down her throat.

_You are disgusting. Give up._

Mikan gasped.

Was this the effect Persona had on her? Mikan felt violated. Affecting her so deep, even down to her inner thoughts, Persona was overwhelming her. She could do nothing but sit and watch as her state of mind was being taken from her, bit by bit.

She did not like this. Changing herself was something Mikan did not want to do. Having a longing to throw away all the lives that were being forced into her hands, was this Mikan? Mikan, the friend, daughter, and granddaughter whom everyone believed they could trust?

_No._

Gradually, Mikan stood up. Her legs were shaking, threatening to buckle with every movement. Likewise, her stomach was throbbing unbelievably.

Step by shaky step, Mikan trudged toward the East Dormitory.

* * *

Today Natsume was furious. Livid. Enraged. Pissed. With a grand total of _78_ customers, Natsume was officially behind. He would tell himself that it was only the first day, and the only reason people were requesting Sohma was because they were bi-curious. This would result in a poor, unfortunate object being burnt, smashed, or both. So that's what he did. Circle his room and burn anything that annoyed him.

_Natsume_ was the star of this school. He had everything! Status, money, looks, and when needed, charm. So why did this monster in disguise think he could just swoop in and steal Mikan? Everyone knew that flirting with Mikan could end up dying a public, painful, humiliating, and fiery death. Everyone but Sohma. He thought he was _so_ invincible with his Water Alice, but it was a cold, hard fact that **no one** got away with messing with Natsume.

Natsume continued to lazily flip through pages of his manga. His head shot up when he heard a banging on the door. Thank god. His laundry was piling up, and the maid hadn't stopped by in a while. He got up slowly, taking his time to answer the door, when he heard a desperate "Natsume! Please! Open the door!" The sound of pain made his blood run cold as he rushed toward the door. Natsume recognized that voice.

* * *

By the time she had finally reached Natsume's door, the mind-numbing throb in Mikan's stomach had torn her down to a shaking, sobbing mess. Blood, so much blood. Mikan hated blood. Her hand shot out, banging on Natsume's door. If the blood trail didn't make anyone suspicious, the sobbing girl crumbled in front of Natsume's door sure did.

Moments passed by like lifetimes. Where was he? Finally, she heard a click, and the door opening. And there was Natsume. It was the last thing she saw before coughing up blood and losing consciousness.

_

* * *

_

_Pretty_.

This was Mikan's first groggy thought as she woke up. As the image in front of her cleared, her eyes widened as she realized the beautiful person across from her was _Natsume._

_Pretty_, she thought again. She couldn't resist. Her hand reached out and stroked his impossibly soft raven tresses. Was that a blush? She brushed the thought aside. Natsume was asleep, right? She leaned in closer to check, but was sucked in by Natsume's delicate features.

_Beautiful,_ she thought. Her voice rang through the air. Mikan blushed ferociously when she realized she had said it out loud. It was true, though. There was no way to deny that Natsume was gorgeous. _So pretty…_ Mikan was certain that Natsume's mother had dressed him up with girly clothes in his younger years. Hell, Mikan would have done the same, Natsume was almost feminine, with his silky night locks, unworldly long lashes, and perfect lips.

That last thought brought her to her senses.

_Ho-Holy shit! I'm in Natsume's bed! W-we didn't sleep together did we? I'm only 16! I can't lose my virginity! Me and Hotaru bought purity rings together!_

Hastily, she threw the sheets off herself and visually made sure everything was okay. Whew - same clothes as last night.

Her hand flew to her mouth as she silently gasped. She remembered. Frantically, she swooped down to look for her shoes under Natsume's giant bed. Leaving would be a good idea. She could go to her room and try and come up with a plan. The sudden movement caused a painful sensation in her stomach that made her groan out loud.

Before she could scold herself for making a sound, she was swooped up and laid down gently into the king-size bed. "You weren't thinking of escaping again were you?" A husky voice whispered into her ear. "I kinda think you owe me something after last night."

"Umm Natsume I kind of think that maybe that is if you want to sort of please get off?"

"No."

Lazily, Natsume twirled a lock of Mikan's hair. _Tangerines,_ he noted. _She smells like tangerines_. "So you gonna talk?" Natsume asked. Then his gaze hardened. "Not that you have a choice."

In a hasty decision, Mikan did the unthinkable. Something that her grandpa had told her to do in these kinds of situations: she kneed Natsume in the groin, did a ninja roll off the bed, and frantically scrambled for the door. Not bothering to hide her triumphant smirk, Mikan confidentially reached out to turn the doorknob.

It wouldn't budge.

"Fuck." she hissed.

She needed a key. Before Mikan could stretch her arm and search above the doorframe, she heard an unmistakable sound from behind her. A jangle of metal. Slowly, her eyes widening with fear, she turned her head to identify the sound. Natsume stood beside his bed stand, looking severely pissed. With his trademark smirk, he gave an emphasized shake on the keys. "Were you looking for these?"

Mikan gaped, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. This. Was. Not. Good.

"Natsume! Let's work out a deal okay? I know! I'll run, and you can even get a headst-"

"Mi. Kan." Natsume said, steel-eyed and menacing. "I'd advise you to shut up. Your rambling has never helped you."

Ouch.

Mikan took a step back. Natsume took a step forward. _Crap_, Mikan thought. _I was never good at strategy games._

Mikan tried another step backward, but stopped at the doorknob digging into her back. Natsume took his time stepping closer and closer to Mikan. After all, she wasn't going anywhere. He grabbed hold of her wrists and slammed them beside her head. With a sickly sweet smile, Natsume whispered, "Tell me what the hell is going on, and I might not kill you."

Mikan closed her eyes and whispered, "Natsume… I'm not weak, I'm not an idiot. Right now, I'm taking matters into my own hands. You're hurting me."

At the sound of his name, Natsume's eyes softened. The cold, hard front was tumbling down, he wanted Mikan to realize every feeling. He whispered back, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for hurting you. Of course you're not weak, look at your Alice. Look, is something going on? You can tell me anything, right? I thought we were friends."

Mikan didn't open her mouth, because surely tears would fall.

In a last resort effort, Mikan did the only thing she could think of. In a hasty decision, Mikan closed the gap between them and plunked her lips on Natsume's. To say Natsume was surprised was an understatement. Before he could respond, Mikan once again lifted her knee into a strategically placed spot, grabbed the keys, and ran. Leaving Natsume with his heart racing, a painful throb in his lower area, and a tingly sensation on his lips.

For the first time since he could remember, Natsume was speechless.

* * *

Mikan ran, ran faster than she thought possible, to her dorm. Once inside, she closed the door and locked it tight, her fingers shaking.

_This is not what I planned, this is not supposed to happen. Crazy, I'm going crazy._

And she got on her knees, right in the middle of the bedroom floor, and cried. Her face in her hands, her throat sore, she cried. Love was supposed to be happy, love was supposed to be great. Love was supposed to guarentee her happy endings and fucking diamond rings. Her heart was supposed to beat faster because of joy, not fear. Mikan didn't want this. She cried, and cried, because this wasn't her life, this wasn't her decision. She loved Natsume, loved him to the point where it hurt so, so badly. Natsume, who was normally so proud, his eyes had gone soft, and asked her to come back, without even a spoken word.

Still bunched on the floor, the carpet wet, Mikan cried herself to sleep.

* * *

What the hell. _What the hell. _Maybe it was his fault. All the teasing, all the possessiveness, maybe it was too much for Mikan. Maybe it really was Yuki Sohma's fault, maybe- Natsume didn't know. What he did know is that he had waited too long to tell Mikan that he was completely head-over-heels in love with her. What he did know was that he didn't deserve her, because light can never go in the shadows. And now it was too late, because Mikan hated him.

Natsume had healed Mikan, done everything in his power to bring her back to health. With trembling hands, he'd bandaged her stomach. The sight of Mikan with barely any clothes on did nothing to arouse him, because his Mikan was _bleeding. _Blood. So much blood. Enraged at his sloppy work, he tossed the useless medical kit aside and made a phone call. Within seconds, a team of 3 medical doctors, from Natsume's special connections, arrived. Without a sound, they entered through the windows, took one look at Mikan, and bandaged her stomach. One man reached into his pouch, and took out a bottle of pills. He guided Mikan's throat to make her swallow, and then nodded at Natsume. Natsume nodded back, and they left.

Natsume reached over to his bed stand to grab his mask. Right now, Natsume was emotional. Right now, Natsume was angry. This meant more missions. The harder, more time-consuming, more painful, the better.


End file.
